Flash Fiction Analysis
The editors of “Flash Fiction” asked themselves the question, “How short can a story be and still truly be a story?” (11). With this in mind, they settled on a maximum word count of 750, with a minimum of 250. They debated keeping it as “one story to a page, just a little book of little stories,” but soon realized that, without the turn of a page during a story, the reader is easily bored (13). Instead, they allowed the stories to begin and end naturally in the book’s layout.
“Pumpkins” is a complicated story by Francine Prose, about truth and deception, and distinguishing between them (19-22). The scene is set with the description of a fatal accident between a truck full of pumpkins and a small car, whose driver is killed instantly. A woman reads about the story in the newspaper and, realizing that the accident occurred in front of the house of her husband’s former lover, confronts him with it. Although he had prior knowledge of the accident, he avoids her questions, and she goes, distraught to her therapist. Her therapist accuses her of being shallow, as he is counseling the husband of the woman who was killed in the crash, but eventually apologizes. When he goes home to his wife, he describes it as a truck full of “Christmas trees” (21). Through this he realizes that the event is troubling him so much because it, somehow, reminds him of a time when he was a carefree child, “when nothing scared him, not even time, it was all being taken care of” (21).
“I Get Smart”, by Pamela Painter, is a sarcastic look at the uneasy relationship between a woman and her husband (77-80). The story begins with the woman telling her husband that she wants to buy a new cat. Her husband refuses immediately, saying that the three cats they already have are enough. The woman responds by announcing a week later that they have three new cats, and proceeds to introduce the cats they already own by different names. Her husband is angry, but she ignores him, seeming to take glee in
“Pumpkins” is a complicated story by Francine Prose, about truth and deception, and distinguishing between them (19-22). The scene is set with the description of a fatal accident between a truck full of pumpkins and a small car, whose driver is killed instantly. A woman reads about the story in the newspaper and, realizing that the accident occurred in front of the house of her husband’s former lover, confronts him with it. Although he had prior knowledge of the accident, he avoids her questions, and she goes, distraught to her therapist. Her therapist accuses her of being shallow, as he is counseling the husband of the woman who was killed in the crash, but eventually apologizes. When he goes home to his wife, he describes it as a truck full of “Christmas trees” (21). Through this he realizes that the event is troubling him so much because it, somehow, reminds him of a time when he was a carefree child, “when nothing scared him, not even time, it was all being taken care of” (21).
“I Get Smart”, by Pamela Painter, is a sarcastic look at the uneasy relationship between a woman and her husband (77-80). The story begins with the woman telling her husband that she wants to buy a new cat. Her husband refuses immediately, saying that the three cats they already have are enough. The woman responds by announcing a week later that they have three new cats, and proceeds to introduce the cats they already own by different names. Her husband is angry, but she ignores him, seeming to take glee in